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Friday, 18 August 2017

“There was violence on both sides.”

“There was violence on both sides.”

Researching the recent clashes at
Charlottesville in which counter-protesters traveled to the Virginia town to
take on the neo-Nazis, I discovered some disturbing facts which reveal a sordid
past and the threatening emergence of a troubling phenomenon in the United
States, that of the protection of hate speech.

In order to make my point, allow
me to make one remarkable admittance. In 1962, in Great Britain, a man named
Oswald Mosley came to Manchester to lead a crowd of followers in a revival rally.
He wasn’t a neo-Nazi. Mosley was a real Nazi. He was the leader of the British
Union of Fascists in the 30's and was an ardent admirer of Adolph Hitler. Had
Germany defeated British in World War Two, Mosley would almost certainly have
been appointed by Hitler as the Reich-Fuehrer governing Britain. For this
reason, he was interned during the war. Some say he should have been hanged for
treason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwAdib9Es5w

Prior to the war, a huge riot
took place in the East End of London when Mosley’s Fascists, who were riding a
wave of anti-Semitism, were stopped in their tracks by London Jews and
anti-fascists in a violent confrontation which became known as “The Battle
of Cable Street.”

Mosley tried to revive his Nazi
agenda after the war. He tried to hold revival rallies in London, the Midlands,
and Manchester. He never reached the stage in Manchester. Angry Jews, me among
them, joined other anti-Fascists, many of whom had fought to defeat fascism in
Europe less than two decades earlier, to prevent this Hitler-wannabee from
speaking. The huge crowd chanted, ”Down with Mosley,” and down he went,
three times before the police dragged him away without him opening his mouth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRS4NR_BZ1w

That was confronting real
fascism, not the motley crew that assembled in Charlottesville with their
stupidly offensive anti-Jewish banners. And I feel for those who find the KKK
deeply offensive and for whom the KKK symbols are hurtful. I feel the same, if
not more, about the swastika. But the Charlottesville hoodlums were a nasty
shadow of the real Nazis or the once-powerful KKK who marched through the
streets of New York in the 20's to attend the Democratic National Convention
where many were delegates.

Once can appreciate the depth of
feelings of a generation who had suffered the Holocaust and confronted fascism
taking a violent approach to the notion that “free speech must be protected,
even hate speech.”

If any organization marched
through the streets of Jerusalem chanting “Death to the Jews” expect a
violent confrontation, and don’t condemn the violent protesters with the slogan
of “the right to free speech, even hate speech.” I would protest as much against anyone
chanting “Death to Arabs.” Such incitement must be criminalized.

Free speech must have its limits,
and if the law does not appreciate this then the law is an ass.

So, don’t be surprised if
violence occurs against the cries of “Khyber! Khyber! Al Yahud!” or
“Jews to the gas!” on the streets of Miami, New York, and other American and
British cities. Such free speech must not be protected. This is threatening incitement to behead and murder
Jews. It must either be stopped by law, or stopped by protest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iU5CAzMGVA

And, when this happens, don’t
allow any politician to say, “There was violence on both sides.”

Barry Shaw is the Senior
Associate for Public Diplomacy at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies.
He is the author of ‘Fighting Hamas, BDS, and Anti-Semitism.’